Putnam County EMS is applying for some $72,000 in grant funding through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant.
EMS Director Tommy Copeland said that the federal grant opens every year with five percent of the fund dedicated specifically to EMS departments. He said that they would hopefully use the grant money for powered stair chairs.
“We can put somebody that’s on the second or third or fourth level of a building,” Copeland said. “We can put them in this chair and it’s battery-operated so it’s a lot easier on the providers so they don’t have to carry them up or down the stairs, and it makes it a lot safer for the patient.”
Copeland said that the grant is a 90 percent federal, 10 percent local match. He said that the deadline for the grant is in mid-December and that they would hopefully hear back by the spring.
Copeland said that it will serve to benefit not only patients and current employees but the county as well. He said that the equipment is something the department has never had before and could bring in more potential employees.
“This won’t be something we will have to use all the time, but in those situations where we’ll need it it will be huge,” Copeland said. “And it’s another thing, you know, that makes it easier and more attractive to work here. It’ll be something they’ll have and would have to expend less risk as far as hurting themselves or moving somebody up and down the stairs.”
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